Though this was about events from fifteen years ago, judging by Kayden’s reaction, he seemed unaware of the Saint Dragon Business Association’s involvement. While they weren’t directly responsible, they had played their part in the shadows.
Kayden’s gaze shifted to Salvatore, studying him with cold amusement. He took a step forward. “The Saint Dragon Business Association?”
Like a student caught unprepared, Salvatore’s whole body trembled. Had Kayden discovered the Association’s role in the events from fifteen years ago? No, impossible-how could he know? “I know nothing!” he blurted out. “Whatever happened fifteen years ago-I’m completely in the dark!”
Kayden’s lips curled in disdain. “I wasn’t talking about fifteen years ago. You conspired with Hellblazer, went to Hiphia to harass my wife-I’m here to settle that score. Finding this worthless creature was just… convenient.”
Convenient! So Kayden’s true purpose was the Saint Dragon Business Association.
If this was how he treated a “convenient” target, what fate awaited his actual enemies?
But Salvatore, seasoned in the ways of survival, saw his opportunity. With two convenient scapegoats at hand-and dead men tell no tales-he pointed at the Braxton brothers’ corpses. “It was them! Defender, I would never dare move against you. The Braxton brothers-they worked with Hellblazer behind my back. I just found out myself-that’s why I killed them in my rage! I truly knew nothing!”
With that, Salvatore dropped to his knees, the picture of wounded innocence.
It was survival at its most shameless-a masterclass in self-preservation. Salvatore desperately tried to distance himself, his face a mask of false injury.
Seeing their leader kneel, the entire Vargas family followed suit, all crying out, “We had nothing to do with it!”
Kayden said nothing, merely advancing toward Salvatore with unhurried steps. Mixed with Boaz’s screams of agony, he looked like a battlefield hero approaching his prey.
“No, please, no!” Salvatore begged, still clinging to his facade of innocence.
Kayden stopped before him, looking down at the bowed head. This was the mighty leader of the Saint Dragon Business Association-a man held up as a titan of Seclela commerce-now reduced to groveling, trembling, kneeling in the dust.
Before the Defender of the South, all were but ants-an eternal truth, unchanging through the ages!
“Save your lies for the dead.” With these words, Kayden placed his hand on Salvatore’s head.
At that icy touch, Salvatore’s entire body convulsed. A wave of deathly cold surged from his spine to his brain, freezing and terrifying, suffocating in its intensity.
At that moment, Salvatore tasted death. A desperate thought flashed through his mind-was this the end? Even after seventy years of life, death still terrified him. With his exalted position, dying now would leave too many regrets unfulfilled.
His wrinkled face, lined with the traces of age, contorted in near tears. His eyes darted wildly as he pleaded, “Defender, you can’t kill me! The Saint Dragon Business Association is Seclela’s most influential economic group-our partnerships span the entire nation! The Braxton brothers are already dead. Kill me, and Saint Dragon Business Association will be headless-countless economic systems will collapse. Do you want to watch our nation’s economy crumble?”
“Are you threatening me?” Kayden’s fingers suddenly tensed. A sharp crack rang out, like breaking bone, crystal clear in the silence. Every member of the Vargas family felt their hearts leap into their throats.
With Salvatore’s back to them, they couldn’t see his pupils dilate to their limits, couldn’t see the blood vessels burst in his eyes. They didn’t see the moment blood began to trickle from those eyes. Dead in an instant, bleeding from both eyes-Kayden’s fingers had ended his life with terrifying efficiency.
Kayden didn’t even bother to look down at the body. Like Death himself, he spoke with ice in his voice, “Anyone who dares harass my wife must die. A mere Saint Dragon Business Association cannot shake Seclela’s economy. Without one Saint Dragon Business Association, a thousand more will rise.”
As his words faded, Salvatore’s head crashed to the ground, blood flowing from all parts of his body.
The entire Vargas family froze, staring in stunned silence at their fallen leader, not daring to breathe.
“Greedy Wolf, dispose of this trash.” Kayden couldn’t even be bothered to look at Castiel and the others as he gave the command.
He approached Boaz, who still writhed and screamed on the ground. By now, Boaz’s greatest wish was simply to die-to escape this torture. He could feel the creatures crawling through his body, gnawing at his bones. The pain of splintering bone was beyond human endurance.
Neither life nor death!
Now Boaz truly understood the meaning of those words, truly grasped the depth of that agony.
Pain-perhaps the most excruciating pain possible in this world, pain that tore at body and soul, pain that bred pure despair! He longed for death, yet death eluded him completely!
Kayden stood over him, sneering. “Don’t rush. Death won’t come for twenty hours yet. Savor every moment, every sound of your bones breaking.”
Twenty hours! Boaz couldn’t bear another second, let alone hours. He wanted only death, wanted only an end.
But Kayden had finished with him, turning to walk out of the Association building.
As he reached the door, Boaz screamed in desperation, “No! No! You can’t leave! Kill me! Please, make it quick!”
He wanted only death now. Nothing else mattered-not Hellblazer, not any of it! He was dead either way; better a clean death than twenty more hours of this hell.
“Wait! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you about fifteen years ago!” Boaz cried out in desperation.
Kayden froze mid-step, turning to fix his gaze on Boaz’s face.
Their eyes met, and Boaz burst out, “I’ll tell you everything about fifteen years ago! I can’t take it anymore! I can’t! Just promise to kill me after-kill me immediately!”
Not waiting for a response, he rushed on, “Fifteen years ago, Ambrose’s death, actually…”
BANG! His words cut off suddenly, forever unfinished!